Financial Statements, Group A

This course builds on "introduction to financial acocunting" andfocuses on the topics below, such that students at the end of the courseare able to open up a financial statement/annual report and be able to understand the main elements, as well as understand the incentives that are relevant when making financial reporting decisions.

In addition, there is a focus onthe trade-offs that go together with certain reporting decisions and their relationship relation to past, present and future reports.

Income statement:

• Principles of revenue recognition
• Matching principle in the income statement

Asset side of the balance sheet

• Principles of asset recognition (vs. expensing)
• Depreciation/amortization
• Consequences for future financial statements

Consolidation:

• Acquiring a company
• Discussion of goodwill as an intangible
• Consolidation with minority interest

Company financing - Equity and liabilities on the balance sheet

• Earnings per share and EPS dilution
• Influences of stock based compensation (disconnection between cash flow and income)
• Overview of general types of debt
• Provisions vs. contingent liabilities
• Financing with equity vs. debt

Cash flow statement:

• Derivation of the cash flow statement
• Structure of cash flows – links to activities (operating/investing/financing)
• Usefulness of cash flow statement

This module builds on the module introduction to financial accounting.

The main goal is for students to become familiar with the manner in which financial statements are presented and to understand the logic and reasoning of the accounting registration process, as well as its main benefits and its weaknesses.

This introductory course aims to improve students basic understanding of financial accounting and encourages a broader interest into how accounting is used as source of information within a firm environment.

Required readings are provided during the course and are available through the WHU-library.

Lectures with discussion of both theory and exercises.

Lecturesfocus on frequent decisions that have an impact on earnings/financial statements, discuss key accounting decisions and how they impact the current and future financial statements.

In general,a stylized simplified example is discussed before discussing one (or more) real-world example(s).

In addition,some differences in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are highlighted.

Additional tutorials are organized.

Exam

Participate in Introduction to Financial Accounting

90